11.   But at campaign tents of candidates like Walid Tubtabai, a strict Islamist, the answer has been a powerful no.

12.   But even numbers-conscious pollsters point to the intangible factors that set a candidate like Bob Dole off from one like Bill Clinton.

13.   By outward appearances, the Robb-North contest seems ripe for a moderate independent candidate like Coleman.

14.   Candidates like Hillary Rodham Clinton have occasionally suggested that some pockets of the country, like upstate New York, have not shared equally in the boom.

15.   During the last search, Allen insisted on hiring an apprentice rather than a replacement, which made the job unappealing to obvious candidates like Fisher or Armstrong.

16.   Even in the South, religious right candidates like Alabama Gov. Fob James lost.

17.   Forbes is running a rough and extremely expensive air war, launching attack spots against even second-tier candidates like Lamar Alexander.

18.   Further, they tend to reward ideologues like Gramm and protest candidates like Patrick J. Buchanan.

19.   He likes to say the senator has never met a candidate quite like Chuck Schumer, meaning that he has always had weaker opposition than he deserved.

20.   He supports Republicans on many issues but shuns the social conservatism of candidates like Steve Forbes or Gary Bauer.